| > | | | | The other mistake made by doctors is to |
| Even the very best doctors sometimes make | | | | incorrectly interpret a mammogram. Doctors use |
| mistakes. But there are particular mistakes which | | | | mammograms to picture structures in the breast |
| seem to be made more regularly and to be made | | | | that might be cancerous. The mammogram |
| by more doctors. Two such mistakes deal with | | | | produces pictures of the inside of the breast with |
| breast cancer and if they take place the outcome | | | | low dose x-rays of the woman's compressed |
| might be deadly - a hold up in the diagnosis of the | | | | breast. The resulting images are then analyzed by |
| cancer. A physician who makes such a mistake | | | | physicians for the presence of any structures or |
| and thus holds up the detection of the patient's | | | | changes that might be cancerous. Unfortunately, |
| breast cancer until it is advanced may be liable for | | | | physicians occasionally miss what is literally in front |
| medical malpractice. | | | | of them. Sometimes doctors miss an abnormality |
| Situations regarding the delayed diagnosis of | | | | that shows up in the mammogram. In some |
| breast cancer commonly involve 1 or 2 medical | | | | other cases, doctors wrongly diagnose an |
| errors - failing to do diagnostic tests to exclude | | | | abnormal structure or change as harmless without |
| the possibility of cancer when a lump is felt in the | | | | ordering further tests such as a biopsy to exclude |
| breast and misreading a mammogram. Should a | | | | the possibility of cancer. |
| doctor make one of these mistakes and thereby | | | | Either of the errors described above can lead to a |
| delays the detection of the cancer until it | | | | delay in the diagnosis of the woman's breast |
| metastasizes, she might have a lawsuit for | | | | cancer. The longer the detection of breast cancer |
| medical malpractice. | | | | is delayed, the more likely it is that the cancer will |
| The first most likely mistake made by physicians | | | | spread and reach an advanced stage. If the |
| is not to order a diagnostic test when a woman | | | | cancer becomes advanced, the treatment |
| indicates that she discovered a mass while doing a | | | | alternatives for the woman are more restricted. |
| self-conducted breast examination or the doctor | | | | In addition, her 5-year survival rate, the probability |
| finds the mass during a screening clinical breast | | | | that she will be alive at least five years after her |
| examination. Some physicians will inform the | | | | diagnosis, even with treatment, decreases |
| female patient that this is just a benign cyst, | | | | significantly. |
| especially if she is under forty and has no family | | | | Once the cancer gets to the third stage, the |
| history of breast cancer. | | | | survival rate drops to fifty-five percent and by |
| Regrettably, even though the majority of new | | | | the fourth stage it is only approximately twenty |
| cases of breast cancer occur in females older | | | | percent. Had the cancer been detected early, the |
| than fifty, younger women can, and are, | | | | 5-year survival rate would have been over 80 |
| diagnosed with breast cancer regularly. Additionally, | | | | percent, perhaps even above 95% if it had been |
| it is not possible to assess, using only a clinical | | | | detected sufficiently early. |
| breast examination, whether a lump in the breast | | | | Medical mistakes can result in terrible outcomes. |
| is a benign cyst or a cancerous mass. For this | | | | This is particularly true for women with cancer. |
| reason a physician should perform diagnostic | | | | The delay in diagnosis may lead to the need for a |
| testing so as to establish if the mass is cancerous. | | | | mastectomy, limited treatment possibilities, and in |
| Tests that can be ordered are a mammogram, a | | | | some cases, might be even lead to the death of |
| biopsy or an aspiration. | | | | the woman. Under such circumstances, errors |
| Should the woman actually have breast cancer, | | | | such as those described above may constitute |
| the failure to order diagnostic testing may lead to | | | | medical malpractice. |
| the metastasis of the cancer. | | | | |